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Assassination of Archiduke Francis Ferdinand
The archiduke was killed on Sarabejo, Bosnia. He was killed for being the heir to the throne. The black hand was the one who killed him. -
Archiduke Death Investigation
The Austrian-Hungary empire investigated the death of Francis Ferdinand. They interviewed the Black Hand. -
Austria Declares War on Serbia
After investigating the assassination of Francis Ferdinand, they found out that the Serbians were the ones who killed him. Austria declares war on Serbia. -
Germany declares war on Russia
After Russia declared on Austria-Hungary
, Germany declared war on Russia then France declared war on Russia thanks to their alliances the whole world was dragged into a world war. -
German invasion Belgium, England enters the war
Germany enacts the Schliffen plan to attack Belgium then flank to France.With this declaration of war The United Kingdom declares war to Germany. -
Battle of Tannenberg
With the start of the war Russia invaded Germany but repulsed at Tannenberg in East Prussia. -
The creation of the trenches
With battles raging on the western front, the two sides dugged down into trenches, this formed a static warfare with the two sides waiting then charging one another until the enemy trench has been captured. -
Early stages of the war
The German advance through Belgium to France did not go as smoothly as the Germans had hoped. The Belgians put up a good fight destroying railway lines to slow the transport of German supplies.
Despite a French counter-attack that saw the deaths of many Frenchmen on the battlefields at Ardennes, the Germans continued to march into France. They were eventually halted by the allies at the river Marne. -
Zeppelins
The use of airships by the Germans increased. Zeppelins began attacking London. They were also used for naval reconnaissance, to attack London and smaller balloons were used for reconnaissance along the Western Front. They were only stopped when the introduction of aeroplanes shot them down. -
Battle of Verdun begins
The Germans mounted an attack on the French at Verdun designed to ‘bleed the French dry’. Although the fighting continued for nine months, the battle was inconclusive. Casualties were enormous on both sides with the Germans losing 430,000 men and the French 540,000. -
Battle of Jutland
The only truly large-scale naval battle of the war. German forces, confined to port by a British naval blockade, came out in the hope of splitting the British fleet and destroying it ship by ship. However, the British admiral, Beatty, aware that the German tactics were the same as those used by Nelson at Trafalgar, sent a smaller force to lure the German’s into the range of Admiral Jellicoe’s main fleet. Although Beatty’s idea worked, the exchange of fire was brief and the German’s withdrew -
Battle of the Somma
The battle was preceded by a week long artillery bombardment of the German line which was supposed to destroy the barbed wire defences placed along the German line but only actually succeeded in making no mans land a mess of mud and craters. The five month long battle saw the deaths of 420,000 British soldiers (60,000 on the first day), 200,000 French soldiers and 500,000 German soldiers all for a total land gain of just 25 miles. -
New War Commander
Lloyd George, who had never trusted his war minister’s ability to direct the war, persuaded the Cabinet to appoint the French General Nivelle as supreme war commander over Haig’s head. Haig was assured that the appointment was for one operation only and that if he felt the British army was being misused by the Frenchman he could appeal to the British government. -
USA declares war on Germany
The United States of America declared war on Germany in response to the sinking, by German U boats, of US ships. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Following the successful revolution by the Bolsheviks, the Russians signed an Armistice with Germany at Brest-Litovsk. The terms of the treaty were harsh: Russia had to surrender Poland, the Ukraine and other regions. They had to stop all Socialist propaganda directed at Germany and pay 300 million roubles for the repatriation of Russian prisoners. -
Allies recover France and Belgium
The allies had taken almost all of German-occupied France and part of Belgium. -
Armistice with Turkey
The allies had successfully pushed the Turkish army back and the Turks were forced to ask for an armistice. The terms of the armistice treaty allowed the allies access to the Dardenelles. -
Hindenburg line collapsed
By the beginning of November the allies had pushed the Germans back beyond the Hindenberg line. -
Kaiser Abdicated
Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated. -
Armistice signed
At 11 am, in the French town of Redonthes, the Armistice was signed bringing the war to an end.
